Christ Unto Byzantium

The Orthodox Church reached American soil as early as 1792 when eight Russian Orthodox missionary monks established the first Orthodox Mission in Kodiak, Alaska. This Russian mission in America had the following Episcopal Succession: Bishop Josaph Bologloff Bishop Innocent Veniaminoff Bishop Peter (1859-67) Bishop Paul Bishop John (1870—76) Bishop Nester (1879-82) Bishop Vladimir (1898-1917)
Early in 1917 Patriarch Tychon and the Holy Synod of the Russian
Orthodox Church elected a monk of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch as Bishop. Archbishop Aftimios Ofiesh was consecrated by Metropolitan Evdokim on May 11, 1917 in New York City. Metropolitan Evdokim was assisted by Bishop Alexander Nemolovsky, Russian Orthodox Bishop of Canada and the Aleutian Islands and by Bishop Stephen Dzubai, Russian Orthodox Bishop of Pittsburgh. Metropolitan Evdokim had been consecrated by Metropolitan Macarius of Moscow. Archbishop Aftimios died at the age of eighty-five in Wilks-Barre, Pennsylvania on July 24, 1966.
Archbishop Aftimios Ofiesh, assisted by Bishop Emmanuel of Brooklyn, New York in 1931 consecrated Bishop Sophronios who later became the Syrian Archbishop of Brooklyn, New York.
The Albanian Orthodox Church, with its long history, is the continuation of the early Christian Church where Saint Paul had preached the Gospel of Christ (Rom. 15:19). There, Greek and Latin missionaries had been active under both the Churches of Constantinople and Rome.
Due to the circumstances of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Albanian Orthodox Church in America with its influence and jurisdiction at that time reverting back to the Church in Albania, found itself independent of the Russian Orthodox Church and under the sole leadership of Archbishop Theophan Stylian Noli. Archbishop Noli was consecrated Metropolitan of Durrazzo in 1923 at Saint George’s Cathedral in Korista, Albania, by Archbishop Christopher Kissis of Albania and Bishop Ierotheos of Mt. Athos, Greece. Archbishop Noli had his Metropolitan See for the New World in Boston, Massachusetts and had been in communion with Constantinople. He died in 1965. The Albanian Orthodox Church was recognized by Constantinople as late as April 12, 1937.
The Syrian Archbishop Sophronios of Brooklyn, spiritual offspring of the Russian Orthodox Archbishop Aftimios Ofiesh, with the Albanian Metropolitan Theophan Stylian Noli, on February 10, 1934, at the Church of Saint John the Baptist in New York City consecrated Archbishop Christopher Cantogeorge who was made Metropolitan of Pentapoleos and Exarch of the Patriarchate of Alexandria in the United States in 1947, had previously been made Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Archbishop Cantogeorge died on August 30, 1950.
Archbishop Christopher Cantogeorge with Archbishop Theophan Noli, on August 25, 1934, at the Church of Saint John the Baptist, consecrated Archbishop Arsenios Saltas who in 1954 was made Exarch of the Patriarchate of Alexandria in the United States of America. Archbishop Saltas died on December 4, 1955.
Archbishop Christopher Cantogeorge, with Bishop Ambrosios of Aman consecrated in 1937 Archbishop Nicholas Kedroffsky of North American and the Aleutian Islands at the age of thirty-five was publicly acknowledged as the youngest Archbishop in the world.
Archbishop Nicholas Kedroffsky with Archbishop Arsenios Saltas in 1935 at the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Nicholas on East 97th Street, consecrated Bishop Joseph Klimovich of Springfield, Massachusetts, who on October 14, 1950 at Sts. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church was elevated to Patriarch of the Orthodox Catholic Patriarchate of America. Patriarch Joseph died on August 20, 1961 in New Salem, Massachusetts at the age of eighty-one.
Archbishop Christopher Cantogeorge in 1949 with Archbishop Arsenios Saltas and with the blessing and concurrence of Metropolitan Theophan Noli consecrated Archbishop Konstantin Jaroshevich.
Patriarch Joseph Klimovich with Archbishop Konstantin Jaroschvich and with the assistance of two Old Catholic Prelates, Archbishop Metropolitan Joseph Zielonka and Bishop Peter M. Willianowich, on October 14, 1950, consecrated the Ukrainian Metropolitan Nicholas Bohatyretz who died in 1964 at the age of seventy-five.
Patriarch Joseph Klimovich with Archbishop Konstantin Jaroshevich and the Ukrainian Metropolitan Nicholas Bohatyretz, and with the assistance of two Old Catholic Prelates, Metropolitan Joseph Zielonka and Bishop Peter M. Williamowich, (these Prelates trace their Episcopal Succession through Archbishop Joseph Rene Vilatte, who was consecrated a Bishop at the hands of Archbishop Alvarez of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate in 1892) on October 15, 1950 at Sts. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church in Springfield, Massachusetts, consecrated Archbishop Peter Zhurawetzky of the Holy Eastern Orthodox Catholic and Apostolic Diocese of America, who later became the Presiding Bishop of the Holy Synod of The Orthodox Catholic Churches of America. Archbishop Zhurawetzsky had been ordained to the Priesthood on May 20, 1932 at the Greek Orthodox Church in New York City by Archbishop Athenagoras I (Spyrou) of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America, becoming Patriarch of Constantinople in 1948.
Patriarch Klimovich with Metropolitan Peter A. Zhurawetzky and with the two Old Catholic Prelates mentioned above, and with Metropolitan Clement Sherwood consecrated Archbishop Joachim Souris, who later became Primate of the Autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church of America.
Archbishop Joachim Souris, with the assistance of Archbishop Stanislaus DeWitow of the Holy Orthodox Church in America, on October 3, 1964 at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Resurrection in the Bronx, New York, consecrated Archbishop Metropolitan Walter Propheta for the American Orthodox Catholic Church. Archbishop Propheta had been ordained to the holy Priesthood by Bishop Bohdan T. Shpilka of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church on May 15,1933. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is still in union with the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Archbishop Walter Propheta, with the assistance of Archbishop John A. Christian, on December 7th, 1969, at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Resurrection, the Bronx, New York, consecrated as his Auxiliary Bishop Francis J. Ryan. Bishop Ryan had been ordained to the Priesthood by Archbishop Propheta on September 1, 1968. Bishop Ryan was later elevated to Archiepiscopal status at a ceremony held in the UN Chapel.
Archbishop Francis J. Ryan, with the assistance of Bishop H. Bennett Dayhoff and Bishop John Basilo, on April 23, 1977, at Holy Cross Polish Catholic Church in New York City, consecrated Archbishop Leonard J. Curreri, D.D. as Archbishop Metropolitan for the Tridentine Catholic Church, traditionalist Catholic jurisdiction. The Roman Pontifical was used for the conferral of the Episcopate which was conferred during the solemn celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Archbishop Curreri had been ordained to the Priesthood on October 26, 1974 by Archbishop Thomas J. Fehervary of the Traditional Christian Catholic Church in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Roman Pontifical was used for the conferral of the Priesthood which was bestowed during the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
(The information contained in this section is taken from the book Christ Unto Byzantium by Archbishop Mark Karras)